Ancient Times
by FF7playa
Summary: How the battle between the few remaining Cetra and JENOVA went down. Short and a bit rushed, yes, but I'm satisfied with it.


Ancient Times

            Drix stood in the middle of the field, his long, silver-white hair gently rustling in the light breeze that blew through this place.  The sky was clear and there were no signs of ill weather to come; only the constant, pressing reminder that evil roamed freely on the Planet.  The time would be soon to confront it, to fight "Nto Dret un Itu," or, "The Crisis from the Sky."  His comrades stood behind him, spread out over the field.  They were among the handful of Cetra left on the Planet, the remnants of a truly great and wise race.  This "Crisis from the Sky" had ravaged them, destroyed them and humiliated them, taking from them everything they'd ever had in the matter of just a few years.  This creature would pay; Drix and his comrades would make sure of that.

             Suddenly, the evil presence in Drix's mind nearly exploded as he felt the creature come closer to their position.  He shouted at the rest of them to be alert, it was nearly there.

            "Tdáz tedz!" he shouted, meaning, "Get ready!"

            "Tedz!" the rest replied, or simply, "Ready!"

            The creature came into view overhead, about 100 yards or so away.  It flew toward them, its long tentacles moving slowly in the air, its revolting body gliding effortlessly under its own power with the end at its back.  It spotted the group of Cetra warriors below and could not resist the temptation to destroy them.  There would be no friendly charade; these warriors knew what the Crisis creature was and what to expect from it.

            "Dzek co akté!" one of the warriors shouted.  A translation here would be, "I see it!"

            Drix and the others all responded by calmly arming themselves and equipping their "Toru Ctak Notrés," or "Sacred Magical Stones."  These are known by humans today as "materia."  As the creature touched down, still about 100 yards away, the warriors were finished and ready to fight.  The two sides stood facing each other, hating their opponent(s).  Finally, Drix unsheathed his sword, pointed it at the creature, and shouted, "Kaeki zeh!" meaning, "Attack!"

            A thunderous roar erupted in the field as the warriors charged, their battle cry permeating out for miles around.  They ran quickly and with little haste, and thus took their first casualty quickly.  They were within 100 feet when the creature whipped out a long tentacle and smacked a warrior a few feet away from Drix.  The warrior, named Kelzic, fell to the ground, and Drix knew he was already dead.  The remaining warriors, about twelve of them, stopped about twenty feet from the creature.  It whipped two more tentacles out, and both missed their targets as they dodged and charged the creature once more.  Drix charged forward as well and slashed at the beast with his sword, which glowed white with a small amount of blue in it.  He slashed again, then called up "Ctak zeh Fora," or, "The Magic of Flames."  It scorched a small area of flesh, which he slashed at again.  It began to heal quickly, however, and he knew he had to do better than that if he and the rest of the Cetra wanted to rid themselves and the Planet of this Crisis.

            He concentrated briefly on "Ctak zeh Yut Fora," or, "Fire 3," as humans know it by.  Fire bombs appeared and exploded all around the creature, making the creature shudder as it was badly burned from it all.  Drix began calling upon the spell again when suddenly a tentacle caught him in the back of the head.  Dots exploded in his eyesight and he stumbled back, his hand holding his head.  He felt blood seep through his fingers, and his sword suddenly felt extremely heavy in his other hand.  He came to a stop about fifty feet from the creature, and as he fell to the ground in unconsciousness, his sword fell beside him.

            He awoke about an hour or so later, though he could not tell how long he'd been out.  His sword lay next to him, completely blue and void of white, inert where it lay.  He dragged himself to his feet, then tried picking up the sword, which was a difficult, but successful effort.  His sword brightened up a little, a small amount of white coming from it now.  It was still mostly blue though, as it reflected the health and state of mind of its possessor.  Drix knew he couldn't attack the creature in his condition, but he had to do something.  He looked around for his fellow warriors and was alarmed at what he saw.

            Only five others were fighting the creature, the rest being dead.  Drix could sense, though, that one was seriously injured, and was unconscious as a result.  He slowly walked back toward the battle, which had moved a bit.  It was roughly 100 feet away now, though it might as well have been 100 miles.  About halfway there, he stopped and fell to one knee, resting on his sword.  That blow from earlier had really weakened him.  He knew he wouldn't be able to get back over to the battle, let alone fight, unless…unless a miracle happened.  Suddenly, he remembered the materia he had with him, and checked it.  Yes, "Ctak zet Ujahe," or "Restore materia," was still equipped on him.  He concentrated as hard as he could on it, and after what felt like an eternity, he saw the small green stone glow from deep within.  The wound on the back of his head healed a little, enough to stop most of the bleeding and give him some strength.  He stood back up, feeling a lot better, but also knowing he wasn't at 100% still.  He ran back to the battle and joined up next to one of his comrades.  He looked around once more, and saw that they wouldn't last much longer.  His mind ran at a furious pace, trying to figure out a way to end this battle soon.  Finally, he remembered "Ctak zeh Lombreh."  He shouted it around at his comrades, and they all acknowledged him by backing up.  The creature turned his attention to Drix and then stopped dead in its tracks.

            His sword began glowing almost pure white as he concentrated as hard as he could on the spell.  Every neuron in his braid and every fiber in his body focused on calling the summon forward, drawing it out of its orb.  The massive red materia glowed the color of blood, and his sword was now completely white and extremely bright.

            At last, he felt the summon begin to take effect.  He hadn't ever really used it before, save once before when had to bring it forward as a final test to be considered a true warrior in his tribe.  The materia glowed so brightly that he could see it through his closed eyes, and finally, after several exhausting minutes of total concentration, he felt it come through.  He opened his eyes, which now burned like green fire, and shouted, as loud as he could, "CTAK ZEH LOMBREH!"

            The creature was snapped out of its trance-like state of staring at Drix and realized what was coming.  It was enclosed in a black circle, which formed into a weightless, space-like place.  One by one, thirteen of the Cetra's most glorified knights of the past came and struck the Crisis, each one inflicting far more damage than any of the warriors now could have.  The final knight, the most revered of them all, lifted his sword up high, and struck the creature, doing more damage than all the knights.  The creature shrieked in pain, and once the summon ended and it was returned to the Planet, it suck to the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.

            Drix realized that if the creature could survive that, it probably couldn't be killed.  His mind and body exhausted beyond anything he'd ever thought possible, he could not rest, not while knowing there was one more thing to do.  He called the other warriors back over, and, using each other's energies and a materia called "Ctak zeh Fetura," or, "The Magic of Containment," they sealed the creature in a spell they hoped it would never break out of.  It was transported to "Yut Caht Ora," meaning, "The Great Hole," in the Northern Hemisphere, and dropped back into the crater it had first arrived in.  The battle was over, and the Cetra had won.

            Unfortunately, it was too late for the Cetra by then.  Over the next few hundred years, their already-few numbers dwindled near extinction, though they never really died out.  Drix died some fifty years after the "Iut Nutrá," or, "Battle of Ages."  Some say he died from a rare disease.  Others say he died simply from old age, and still others think he died as a long-term result of his head wound, which in fact bothered him for years to come after the Iut Nutrá.  In any event, by the time he died, the Cetra culture was well into decline and the species known as "humans" began dominating the Planet.  The Cetra population had diminished to less than a thousand.  A surprising rise of the population followed for about a hundred years, and at its peak, it was at 10,000.  A disastrous plague about 200 years after Iut Nutrá, however, brought an end to this and permanently dashed any hopes the Cetra had of their culture making a comeback.  Its numbers declined quickly after the plague, known amongst the Cetra as the "Feta Botru," or, the "Gray Death." 

The Cetra Ifalna was born some 500 years after the Battle of Ages, and Aeris was born of her.  Ifalna was said to have been a descendent of Drix, and if this is so, it served her well as she successfully guided Aeris to safety inside Midgar.  Although Aeris was only half-Cetra, thus somewhat limiting her powers to communicate with the Planet, it did not diminish her fiery Cetra spirit.  The Cetra had been the ones to defeat the Crisis then, and now, the same would be required of this new Cetra…


End file.
